DaiOni

It's great, but I still working it out (only have Japanese instructions). If you're not sitting on a stockpile of DX lenses, then it would be a good choice over the 300.

glad I don;t do car shows very often, still wading through the shots...

I'll be adding more pics to the gallery as soon as I can find the time... http://www.flickr.com/photos/daioni/

more here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daioni/

Making over $100k p/a now, hehe. Wish I actually had some money to send home (though I did send 400,000 back on Friday @.66 - was pissed when it dropped a few hours later). Nice financial crisis so far.

that's one of my biggest issues with Japan - young kids/toddlers with their noses pressed against the front windscreen. Not sure if that's 'bad driving', but it's definitely horrific parenting.

You're going to have to show me a link to the Tsukuba Mine's time-attack car, because the car I saw definitely didn't have stock brakes or street tyres (which would put it in another class, which, as far as I know, would struggle to get under 1min). Not trying to start a shitfight, just rationalising what I've actually seen at TAS and OAM (which doesn't necessarily = what happens on the track). BTW - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukuba_Circuit

jeeeezus I had a cop perform a big skid to lock me into a carpark (after I overtook him at 'fair' speed - he was on the way to work, I saw the uniform and thought 'I hope that was a fireman'), but after I told him I didn't know where his police station was (and I didn't), he let me go with a warning. anyway... I can say with 100% honesty that my experience on the roads of Japan (3 years rural and 3 years urban) = overall, better than Australia. No shit. Much less stupid driving, almost no road rage, amazingly less young driver silliness. Maybe that's just my experience, but I can not complain about Japanese drivers (as opposed to a plethora of complaints against other drivers in the asian region - thailand, vietnam, china, etc etc). The only thing that has annoyed me (and this has only happened in rural areas) is drivers slamming on the brakes in 'random acts of politeness' (i.e. letting other drivers enter from side streets).

Having seen both cars in the flesh (as well as the arta nsx), neither are close to a 'street' car, AC or not. R-magic time attack FD does it in 55.9: clearly not a street car either

ASM Honda s2000 laps in just under 57.4 - that's not bad, considering it's definitely not as friendly to the rwd cars. There's been some fairly competitive NSXs over the years too. In fact, although it's miles away from a street car, the arta NSX laps in 51.8...

I've often seen them for sale in Japan too (in LHD). Not sure if they were sold direct by mitsu though. All the ones I've seen have been auto.

It's about 6 weeks, iirc, but check with dotars. I'm spending 6 weeks in europe this summer and then will be home for a couple at xmas, so it's going to be an issue for me this time around. for 1 mill you can't really go past an FD, nut you really have to know what you are getting yourself into. You should be able to get a late series 7 for around that price. Try to get one that is well modified. These (s6, s7) aren't available via SEVS, but the s8 prices are getting lower and lower, so don't expect to make bulk profit like the good old days. You shouldn't lose your money on it though (provided you look after it). Other choices: * a nice late model mr2 * plenty of cheap r32 GTRs about now (about the same gamble as an FD though, and less likely to get your money back) * GTO * Chaser * GTT (might be hard to find a good one) * Evo IV-VI (nice example vs high kms) * Nice older STi, maybe even a high kms bugeye * high km forester STi type M (if you need to carry shit)

First OAM I went to was actually a lot further away for me than Tokyo. A few years later I went to TAS, and I remember thinking at the time that OAM was, although slightly smaller, a better show. The problem these days is that there are only a few new worthwhile cars on the market (sti, evo, gtr) - each year I went I would see less of the interesting cars (all the good 89-02 stuff) and more and more crap (lexii, euro trash, hummers, etc). If you haven't been to osaka/kansai, I'd suggest checking out OAM, and enjoying a change of scenery. You won't be missing out on much by switching shows.

I've been to one TAS and three or four OAMs. I preferred the OAM (more FDs, primarily), but I haven't been to any shows (except the annual Kobe rotary show) for years because the last OAM I went to was really disappointing - indicative of a declining scene (and, perhaps, declining interest). In any case - the OAM is definitely worth a look if you're not too jaded, and don't mine a wide selection of crap euros and hummers with 25" chromies